Firing mechanism



y 13, 1967 c. w. MUSSER 3,331,280

FIRING MECHANISM Filed May 4, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTGR C. WALTON MUSSER ly 18, 1967 c. w. MUSSEIR FIRING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 4, 1966 ENVENTOR C. WALTON MUSSER July 18, 1967 c. w. MUSSER FIRING MECHANISM Filed May 4, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 ENVENTOR C. WALTON MUSSER United States Patent 3,331,280 FIRING MECHANISM C Walton Musser, Palos Verdes Estates, Califi, assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed May 4, 1966, Ser. No. 547,675 4 Claims. (Cl. 8927) This invention relates to firing mechanism, and more particularly to a firing mechanism capable of selectively firing a plurality of rifles.

In recent years the use of a minor calibre rifle as a means of range determination has proven to be highly practical. While it may not possess all the sophistication one would desire, it has the distinct advantage of being fully understood and appreciated by all the using personnel. Also, it employs the same aiming mechanism as the major calibre and hence it is essentially properly oriented at the instant the range determination means indicates a hit. Under the psychological and physiological stresses of warfare, it has proven to be a superior range and aiming guide technique. It has the additional advantage of automatically correcting for lead, cross winds and gross differences in elevation.

It becomes evident that it would be desirable to have a single firing means capable of firing each of the rifles involved. Otherwise, it would be necessary for the operator to change the position of his hands and in so doing lose valuable time and loss of coordination at the most critical instant of firing.

The arrangement is basically intended for mounting on a large calibre rifle which has a spotting rifle mounted thereon and at the discretion of the operator permits firing either of these rifles at will.

The primary purpose is to provide such a firing mechanism having a minimum of parts, a high degree of reliability, and the capacity to be readily assembled and disassembled in the field by relatively untrained personnel and with no tools required.

It is further intended to provide a mechanism which will be fully operative under all conditions of weather, sand, dust and mud.

A further object is to provide a firing mechanism which produces a high degree of mechanical efficiency so that the trigger forces will be minimal.

A further object is to provide a reliable firing mechanism even though the operator is using arctic mittens.

These and other objects, advantages and features will become apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a mechanism embodying the principles of the invention and mounted on a rifle barrel shown in section.

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view showing the firing cables of FIG. 1 arrangement.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view with the cover plate removed taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 66 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view taken along line 8-8 of FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 the firing mechanism, shown generally at 10, is mounted on the major calibre barrel 28. It is connected through flexible trigger cables 14 and 15 to the respective rifle triggers or sears (not shown). In the arrangement shown, the flexible cable 15 is connected to the major calibre and the flexible cable 14 is connected to the minor calibre. The firing mechanism is normally spring biased to fire the minor calibre or spotting rifle. If the grip 18 is rotated before pulling the trigger it disconnects the minor calibre and connects with the major calibre in a manner to be hereinafter described. Hence, when the grip 18 is properly rotated, to place the trigger bar 23 in the FIG. 3 position in opposition to spring 26A, and the trigger is depressed it will fire the major calibre.

The top plate or cover 12 in FIG. 2 is engraved with line 12A marked spotting and line 12B marked major. The orientation of slot 16C in the head 16E of top plug 16 with lines 12A or 123 indicate which cable the trigger is connected to. Normally top plug 16 is spring loaded so that it will,always align slot 16C with the spotting line 12A and it will require manual rotation of the grip 18 (FIG. 1) to align slot 16C with the major line 12B.

The trigger bar 23 (FIG. 3) has a tang 23A which can interconnect with tang 24D of the major lever 24 when the grip 18 has been manually turned to place trigger bar 23 in the position shown. In this condition, longitudinal motions of the shank 23C of the trigger bar 23 will rotate the major lever 24 around its fulcrum pin 24C and cause the spherical cavity 24A encapsulating cable ball 15C to move. This will pull inner cable 15B displacing it in housing 15D and bring about firing of the major calibre rifle.

Relieving manual pressure on the grip 18 will allow the spring 26A within the guide block 26 to move the trigger bar 23 out of engagement with tang 24D and into interengagement with tang 25D that is similarly interconnected with the spotting rifle inner cable 14B. If the trigger bar 23 is now moved longitudinally by the tang 19E (FIG. 4) of the trigger 19, the tang 23B on the trigger bar will engage tang 25D and rotate spotter lever 25 around its fulcrum pin 25C and cause the spherical cavity 25A encapsulating cable ball 14C to pull inner cable 14B within housing 14D and fire the minor calibre rifle.

The yoke-like housing 13 for the mechanism is made of an auminum forging. It includes an upper channel portion 13A (FIG. 3) containing the two cable housing connecting threaded bosses 13C and 13D, and interconnecting web 13F (FIG. 1) contoured to fit the barrel 28, and a flange 13B (FIGS. 1, 4) acting as a support for the grip 18. The upper channel 13A houses the guide block 26, the trigger bar 23, the major lever 24 and the spotter lever 25. Its cover 12 is held in place by projections 13M and 13N (FIG. 2), and by the top plug 16. Fulcrum pins 24C and 25C are force fit into the lower portion of the channel 13A. Threads within the respective bosses 13D and 13C (FIG. 3) receive the threaded cable housing ends 14A and 15A and allow for cable adjustment. Cable end balls 14C and 15C are enswaged to the ends of corresponding inner cables 14B and 15B.

The web 13F, interconnecting the bifurcated housing portions 13A, 13B, has a dovetailed slot with sides 136 and 131-1 (FIG. 7) interengaging sides 11A and 11B of the encircling band 11 around the barrel 28. Band 11 is keyed to the barrel 28 by a short cylindrical pin 21 fitting into a blind hole 28A in the barrel 28 or an accessory barrel sleeve and a corresponding hole 11K in the band 11. Pin 21 is held in axial location by the web 13F. The male dovetail sides 11A and 11B extend from 11C to 11D (FIG. 1). This allows assembly of the web 13F over the band 11 by rotating it around the barrel 28. The housing 13 is frictionally held against the barrel 28 and the band 11 by the socket head screw 20 (FIGS. 1, 6) in the threaded hole 13K and the countersunk hole 13L. Slot 13] in the web 13F allows screw 20 to clamp the sides of dovetail 13G and 13H into intimate contact with the band dovetail sides 11A and 11B.

The flange 13B centers the grip 18 when the bottom plug 17 (FIGS. 1, 4) is inserted into the grip 18. Contained within the bottom plug 17 are two opposed portions of spring means 173 and two detent balls 17A. These balls act as detents and engage with opposed slots 13E in the flange 13B.

Guide block 26 has a key 26B (FIG. 4), riveted into place by rivet 26C, which engages the slot 16D (FIG. 8) in the top plug 16. Hence, top plug 16 is rotationally keyed to guide block 26.

The grip 18 is essentially a U-shaped handle having a slot 18C (FIG. 4) cut nearly throughout its entire length. At the top end it has a counterbore 18D containing diametrically opposed counterbored lugs 18D which fit and interengage with the body portion 16B (FIG. 8) and the recess 16A on the top plug 16. At the bottom there is a counterbore 18A and diametrically opposed counterbore lugs 18E which fit the corresponding lugs 17C and body portion 17D of bottom plug 17.

The trigger has a top tang 19E that interengages slot 23D in the trigger bar 23, a two finger recessed surface 19A, a hole 19D for a trigger spring 22 (a lu'g with integral pin 19C, and a tang 19B interengaging a recessed groove in the bottom plug 17. The selector lever 27 acts as an aid in assembly and as a key to positively rotate top plug 16. It is recessed at 27A to seat the trigger spring 22, and has its upper portion 27B appropriately dimensioned so as to be slidably received in a portion of the transverse slot 16D of the top plug 16 and in the slot 18C in the grip 18.

Assembly of the arrangement is accomplished by the following process:

(1) Connect cable housing end 14A and 15A to the respective bosses 13D, 13C.

(2) Place spotter lever 25 on pin 25C and seat cable ball end 14C in its socket 25A.

(3) Place major lever 24 on pin 24C and seat cable ball end 15C in its socket 24A.

(4) Insert spring 26A in retainer block 26.

(5) Place retainer block 26 in top of housing channel portion 13A.

(6) Place trigger bar 23 in retainer block 26.

(7) Put on cover 12.

(8) Insert grip 18 with slot 180 90 to trigger bar 23.

(9) Insert top plug 16 into cover hole around trigger bar shank 23C and into grip counterbore 18D.

(10) Rotate grip 18 so slot 18C is aligned with and opens towards trigger bar 23.

(11) Insert spring 22.

(12) Put bar 27 on pin 19C of trigger 19.

(13) Thread trigger assembly 19, 27 into grip slot 18C with portion of bar 27 received in slot 16D.

(14) Insert bottom plug 17 and rotate 90 until detents 17A engage slot 13B.

(15) Adjust length of cables 14B and 15B by changing depth of housing ends 14A and 15A in their respective bosses 13D and 13C.

Various modifications, changes or alterations may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a weapon having a barrel for supporting a plurality for firing means,

a yoke-like housing adjustably secured to said barrel and having bifurcated end portions and an interconnecting web,

each of said end portions having a respective flexible trigger cable supported thereby adjacent said web and corresponding aligned means spaced from said web and supporting an actuating trigger containing a pair of separate levers pivotally mounted within said housing and each having a tang,

an inner cable extending within each of said flexible cables, each of said inner cables being secured to a corresponding one of said levers,

a trigger bar responsive to said actuating trigger and having a pair of spaced tangs,

a spring normally biasing said trigger bar to a first position with one of said spaced tangs in latching engagement with means journalled in said housing for selectively moving said trigger bar in opposition to said spring away from said first tang engaged position to a second position with the other of said spaced tangs in latching engagement with the other of said lever tangs.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said selectively moving means includes a rotatable plug having a transverse slot.

3. The structure of claim 2 wherein said plug includes an upper surface slot for movement between aligned positions with indicia on a cover of said housing to indicate the selective position of said trigger bar.

4. The arrangement of claim 2 in which said actuating trigger has a pin, a selecting lever pivotally mounted upon said pin and extending into said plug transverse slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,882,797 4/1959 Musser 8927 BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner.

S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A WEAPON HAVING A BARREL FOR SUPPORTING A PLURALITY FOR FIRING MEANS, A YOKE-LIKE HOUSING ADJUSTABLY SECURED TO SAID BARREL AND HAVING BIFURCATED END PORTIONS AND AN INTERCONNECTING WEB, EACH OF SAID END PORTIONS HAVING A RESPECTIVE FLEXIBLE TRIGGER CABLE SUPPORTED THEREBY ADJACENT SAID WEB AND CORRESPONDING ALIGNED MEANS SPACED FROM SAID WEB AND SUPPORTING AN ACTUATING TRIGGER CONTAINING GRIP, A PAIR OF SEPARATE LEVERS PIVOTALLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID HOUSING AND EACH HAVING A TANG, AN INNER CABLE EXTENDING WITHIN EACH OF SAID FLEXIBLE CABLES, EACH OF SAID INNER CABLES BEING SECURED TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID LEVERS, A TRIGGER BAR RESPONSIVE TO SAID ACTUATING TRIGGER AND HAVING A PAIR OF SPACED TANGS, A SPRING NORMALLY BIASING SAID TRIGGER BAR TO A FIRST POSITION WITH ONE OF SAID SPACED TANGS IN LATCHING ENGAGEMENT WITH MEANS JOURNALLED IN SAID HOUSING FOR SELECTIVELY MOVING SAID TRIGGER BAR IN OPPOSITION TO SAID SPRING AWAY FROM SAID FIRST TANG ENGAGED POSITION TO A SECOND POSITION WITH THE OTHER OF SAID SPACED TANGS IN LATCHING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE OTHER OF SAID LEVER TANGS. 